Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday triggered a controversy by equating the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) with the international terror group, Islamic State (ISIS).
Reacting sharply to Azad’s words, the RSS threatened legal action against him and sought an apology, while the BJP asked Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to dissociate herself from his remarks and take action against its leader if he does not withdraw his remarks.
While arguing that both ISIS and RSS allegedly attempt to divide communities, Azad said Muslims oppose both the Islamic State and the Sangh Parivar. For her part, attacking the Modi Government, Sonia said that the country is passing through a “critical phase” as those in power are “spreading hatred” by targeting secularism.
“We see among Muslims too, who have become reason of destruction of Muslim countries today... There are some forces behind it... But we need to understand why Muslims are taking part in it, why they are getting trapped.
So, we oppose organisations like ISIS, the way we oppose RSS. If those among us, in Islam, too do wrong things, they are no way less than RSS,” the leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said while speaking at the National Integration Conference organised by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind. However, Azad later sought to clarify that his statement was not against the political activities of RSS but against its ideology.
Hitting back, a RSS spokesperson in Nagaur said such a comparison showed “intellectual bankruptcy” of Congress and its “unwillingness to deal with fundamentalist and cruel forces like ISIS”. The BJP termed Azad’s remarks as unfortunate and asked Sonia Gandhi to disassociate from his remarks and take action against him if he does not withdraw them.
“RSS is a nationalist organisation. It is very unfortunate that he has said so. It shows his mental bankruptcy. He must apologise or Gandhi should take action against him,” party National Secretary Shrikant Sharma said. He said a number of Congress leaders, including Jawahar lal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi, had tried to repress the organisation but it has only emerged “stronger”.
Speaking at the function Azad urged the people to fight communalism of all types saying they are threat to the world and country. “They create distances between a man and another. let them be of any religion, we will have to fight them. Hence, all the secularist forces need to come together to eliminate these forces. The fight is between communalism and secularism, let’s see whether communalism wins or the secularism,” Azad said. “India belongs to all religions, which means majority is with us,” he added.
In her written message that was read out at the gathering, Sonia said, “As you know, the country is passing through a critical phase. Powers that be are spreading hatred across the country. Especially, secularism is being targeted. It is a matter of concern. In such a situation, it is an important work to bring together people forgetting their religion, caste, colour and race.”
BJP termed Sonia’s speech as politically motivated. “She is speaking against what her party has always practiced. Congress divided nation along caste, religion and regional lines. She should not be preaching BJP,” Sharma said, accusing the party of “supporting” anti-national elements for political reasons, a reference to the JNU row.
